Today in History - April 14 | Library of Congress Library of Congress Today in History - April 14 April 14 Listen to this page Lincoln Shot at Ford’s Theater Shortly after 10:00 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln . As Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped out the back door. The paralyzed president was immediately examined by a doctor in the audience and then carried across the street to Petersen’s Boarding House where he died early the next morning. [D]ying as he did die, by the red hand of violence, killed, assassinated, taken off without warning, not because of personal hate…but because of his fidelity to union and liberty, he is doubly dear to us, and his memory will be precious forever. The Assassination of President Lincoln, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., lithograph, Currier & Ives, 1865.

By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present Lincoln’s assassination was the first presidential assassination in U.S. history. Booth carried out the attack five days after General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House , Virginia. He thought that his action would aid the South. The suspicion that Booth had acted as part of a conspiracy of Southern sympathizers increased Northern rancor. Whether Lincoln would have been able to temper the Reconstruction policies enacted by the Radical Republicans in Congress is left to historical speculation because of his untimely death as the United States transitioned from civil war to reunification and peace. Wanted Poster , issued by the War Department, Washington, D.C., April 20, 1865. An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera Within days of the assassination, the War Department issued wanted posters for the arrest of Booth and his accomplices John Surratt and David Herold. Booth and Herold eluded capture until April 26, when federal troops discovered them hiding in a tobacco barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.

Herold surrendered, but Booth stayed under cover and was shot as the barn burned to the ground. He died later that day. Booth’s co-conspirators Lewis Paine—who had attempted to murder Secretary of State William Henry Seward —George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, all were executed for their part in the assassination conspiracy. Several other conspirators were sentenced to imprisonment. The death of President Lincoln resulted in an outpouring of grief nationwide. After a funeral at the White House and lying in state at the U.S. Capitol, Lincoln’s body was transported to the railway station where it began a 1,700-mile journey back to the president’s native Springfield, Illinois . On May 4, Lincoln was finally laid to rest in a tomb at the Oak RidgeCemetery . Many monuments were built to honor Abraham Lincoln over the years, across the nation and around the world. On April 14, 1876, Frederick Douglass delivered an oration at the unveiling of a monument to Lincoln located in Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Park. Better known to the nation is another memorial to Lincoln, also located in Washington, D.C.

Featuring a monumental sculpture by Daniel Chester French, the Lincoln Memorial stands at the foot of the nation’s Mall and was dedicated on May 30, 1922. Contents of Abraham Lincoln’s Pockets, and Newspaper Recounting the Assassination , April 14, 1865. American Treasures of the Library of Congress Learn More To learn more about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, visit the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress , which includes a timeline of the events and a gallery of related images. This collection also contains a digital presentation on the Emancipation Proclamation and a list of Lincoln Resources available in American Memory and elsewhere. Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination A+E Networks Introduction On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Google Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Did You Know? The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington , D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was reportedly in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. History Channel Online Course – Lincoln Assassination At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback.

A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief. The president’s body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House , where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later described the scene, recounting that a bullet clattered into a waiting basin during the doctors’ removal of Lincoln’s brain.

He wrote that the team stopped to stare at the offending weapon, “the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.” During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting that they clip a lock of Lincoln’s hair for her. News of the president’s death traveled quickly, and by the end of the day flags across the country flew at half-mast, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination. The president’s corpse was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincoln’s body was boarded onto a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois , where he had lived before becoming president. Tens of thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid fever in 1862, were interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield.

As the nation mourned, Union soldiers were hot on the trail of John Wilkes Booth, who many in the audience had immediately recognized. After fleeing the capital, he and an accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at the home of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth’s leg. (Mudd’s actions earned him a life sentence that was later commuted). They then sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia. On April 26, Union troops surrounded the Virginia farmhouse where Booth and Herold were hiding out and set fire to it, hoping to flush the fugitives out. Herold surrendered but Booth remained inside. As the blaze intensified, a sergeant shot Booth in the neck, allegedly because the assassin had raised his gun as if to shoot. Carried out of the building alive, he lingered for three hours before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words: “Useless, useless.” Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865.

They included David Herold and Mary Surratt , the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers. Tags President Abraham Lincoln Assassinated | World History Project Apr 14 1865 President Abraham Lincoln Assassinated Shortly after 10 P.M. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln. As Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped out the back door. The paralyzed president was immediately examined by a doctor in the audience and then carried across the street to Petersen's Boarding House where he died early the next morning. Lincoln's assassination was the first presidential assassination in U.S. history. Booth carried out the attack thinking it would aid the South which had just surrendered to Federal forces. The suspicion that Booth had acted as part of a conspiracy of Southern sympathizers increased Northern rancor.

Whether Lincoln would have been able to temper the Reconstruction policies enacted by the Radical Republicans in Congress is left to historical speculation because of his untimely death as the United States transitioned from civil war to reunification and peace. See the Artifacts From President Lincoln's Assassination Photos - ABC News ABC News See the Artifacts From President Lincoln's Assassination + − This April 1865 photo provided by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, the site of his assassination. Under the headline "Great National Calamity!" the AP reported Lincoln's assassination, on April 15, 1865. Library of Congress/AP Photo This April 1865 photo provided by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, the site of his assassination. Under the headline &quot;Great National Calamity!&quot; the AP reported Lincoln's assassination, on April 15, 1865. Library of Congress/AP Photo The chair in which President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 is shown on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., March 23, 2015.

Paul Sancya/AP Photo President Abraham Lincoln's top hat from the night of his assassination is on display at a new exhibit entitled "Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination" at the Ford's Center for Education and Leadership across the street from the historic Ford's Theatre where President Abraham Lincoln was killed, in Washington. Andrew Harnik/AP Photo John Wilkes Booth's pistol used to kill President Abraham Lincoln is displayed at a new exhibit at the Ford's Center for Education and Leadership. Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Karen Needles holds up a photograph of President Abraham Lincoln at the National Archives in College Park, Md, April 6, 2015. Molly Riley/AP Photo President Abraham Lincoln's carriage is displayed at the National Museum of American History in Washington, March 17, 2015. Andrew Harnik/AP Photo This image from half of a stereoscopic photo provided by The Library of Congress shows the crowd surrounding the funeral procession for President Abraham Lincoln in Philadelphia in April 1865. Library of Congress/AP Photo This April 19, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows a procession for President Abraham Lincoln's funeral on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

Library of Congress/AP Photo This image provided by The Library of Congress shows the crowd at the Baltimore train depot before the funeral procession for President Abraham Lincoln arrived in 1865. Library of Congress/AP Photo This April 2, 2015 photo shows a replica of the train car that carried President Abraham Lincoln's coffin along the 1600-mile route from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Ill., in Elgin, Ill., built by Dave Kloke. The original car was destroyed in a 1911 fire. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo This April 2, 2015 photo shows the ornamentation on a replica of the train car that carried President Abraham Lincoln's coffin along the 1600-mile route from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Ill., in Elgin, Ill. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo This April 2, 2015 photo shows a lamp, believed to be one of two that were on the original train car that carried President Abraham Lincoln's coffin along the 1600-mile route from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Ill., in Elgin, Ill.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo Abraham Lincoln | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln became the United States' 16th President in 1861, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863. Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it." Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun. The son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln had to struggle for a living and for learning. Five months before receiving his party's nomination for President, he sketched his life: "I was born Feb.

12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My father ... removed from Kentucky to ... Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.... Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher ... but that was all." Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest." He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator.

He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860. As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion.

The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.... " On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about Abraham Lincoln 's spouse, Mary Todd Lincoln . Lincoln's Pockets The contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets from April 14, 1865. Image includes newspaper reporting his assassination. Lincoln's Pockets Do you carry money or a favorite photo in your pocket? How about eyeglasses?

The things we carry often hold clues to who we are and what's important to us. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., he had all the things you see in this picture in his pockets. On that night, Lincoln was carrying two pairs of eyeglasses, a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a linen handkerchief, a watch fob, a brown leather wallet with a $5 Confederate note, and nine newspaper clippings. You might carry some of the same things today--eyeglasses and a wallet are pretty common--but you probably don't have a $5 Confederate note in your pocket. page 1 of 3 PHOTOS: Abraham Lincoln assassinated 150 years ago, April 14, 1865 Share Search President Abraham Lincoln, portrait, seated and facing front. Brady National Photographic Art Gallery (Washington, D.C.) Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln: Immediately prior to Senate nomination, Chicago, Illinois. 1857 February 28. Alexander Hesler, photographer.

Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln, head-and-shoulders portrait, traditionally called "last photograph of Lincoln from life." Copy of photo by Alexander Gardner taken at Gardner's Gallery in Washington, DC, on Sunday, February 5, 1865. This last photo in Lincoln's last photo session from life was long thought to have been made on April 10, 1865, but more recent research has indicated the earlier date in February. Image shows crack in original negative, which was broken and discarded back in 1865. The original surviving print is at the National Portrait Gallery. Alexander Gardner, photographer Library of Congress Photograph from the last formal portrait sitting, Feb. 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C. "One of five poses taken by Gardner ten weeks before the President was assassinated." Alexander Gardner, photographer. Alex. Gardner, photographer to the Army of the Potomac. Library of Congress President Lincoln visited the Brady Gallery in Washington, D.C., with his son Tad, on Tuesday, February 9, 1864. One of the most popular Lincoln portraits, this is the only close-up of him wearing spectacles. Anthony Berger, photographer.

Library of Congress Thought to be the last beardless portrait of Lincoln, this photo was "made for the portrait painter, John Henry Brown, noted for his miniatures in ivory. …" 'There are so many hard lines in his face,' wrote Brown in his diary, 'that it becomes a mask to the inner man. His true character only shines out when in an animated conversation, or when telling an amusing tale. ... He is said to be a homely man; I do not think so.'" Preston Butler, photographer. Library of Congress President Abraham Lincoln, seated, with his left hand on his face, probably taken 1863 Aug. 9. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln - March 4, 1861. Library of Congress President Abraham Lincoln posed with Union officers and soldiers during his visit to Antietam, Maryland, October 3, 1862. Photograph shows, left to right, Buck Juit, a soldier; Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln's bodyguard (seated); Ozias M.

Hatch; Marcy; Reeves; General McClernand; President Abraham Lincoln; General Fitz-John Porter; General McClellan; Joseph Camp Griffith Kennedy; Garrett (in light hat); and Mather. Alexander Gardner, 1821-1882, photographer. Library of Congress Photo is a reprint of a small detail of a photo showing the crowd gathered for the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn., where President Abraham Lincoln gave his now famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln is visible facing the crowd, not wearing a hat, about an inch below the third flag from the left. Josephine Cobb first found Lincoln's face while working with a glass plate negative at the National Archives in 1952. Library of Congress The Gettysburg address delivered by Abraham Lincoln Nov. 19 1863 at the dedication services on the battle field. Library of Congress Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln at the U.S. Capitol, 1861. Photograph shows crowds of people viewing Abraham Lincoln's inauguration at the east front of the U.S. Capitol, with the Capitol dome under construction.

Library of Congress "Soldiers at attention and men and boys perched in the trees watch Lincoln hoist the stars and stripes at Independence Hall. Lincoln stands, hat off, directly above the single star on the extreme left of the draped flag. His son Tad, hat on, rests his arm on the rail above the cluster of stars on the right." On Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1861. F. De B. (Frederick De Bourg) Richards, photographer. Library of Congress The autobiography of Abraham Lincoln. Library of Congress Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, full-length portrait, standing, facing left, near table. Library of Congress President Lincoln and his son Thaddeus. The last photograph the president sat for. A. Gardner, photographer, Washington. 1865 Feb. 5. Library of Congress Photograph from the main eastern theater of the war, Battle of Antietam, September-October 1862. 1. Col. Delos B. Sacket, I.G. 2. Capt. George Monteith. 3. Lt. Col. Nelson B. Sweitzer. 4. Gen. George W. Morell. 5. Col. Alexander S.

Webb, Chief of Staff, 5th Corps. 6. Gen. George B. McClellan. 7. Scout Adams. 8. Dr. Jonathan Letterman, Army Medical Director. 9. Unknown. 10. President Lincoln. 11. Gen. Henry J. Hunt. 12. Gen. Fitz-John Porter. 13. Unknown. 14. Col. Frederick T. Locke, A.A.G. 15. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys. 16. Capt. George Armstrong Custer. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress The assassination of President Lincoln: at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14th, 1865. Currier & Ives, 1865. Library of Congress The death bed of the martyr President Abraham Lincoln. Washington, Saturday morning April 15th 1865, at 22 minutes past 7 o'clock. Print shows 18 people gathered around Lincoln when he died. Text below the image identifies (left to right): Genl. Halleck, Genl. Meigs, Miss Harris, Mrs. Lincoln & son, Vice Prest.

Johnson, Secy. Stanton, Postmaster Dennison, clergyman, surgeon, Mr. Colfax, Chas. Sumner, Capt. R. Lincoln, Chief Justice Chase, Sec. McCulloch, surgeon, Sec. Welles, surgeon. Library of Congress $100,000 reward! The murderer of our late beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, is still at large. Broadside advertising reward for capture of Lincoln assassination conspirators, illustrated with photographic prints of John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold. Library of Congress John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, Apr. 14 1865. Library of Congress John Wilkes Booth. Library of Congress Derringer gun John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Artifact in the museum collection, National Park Service, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. Library of Congress Old Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated. Library of Congress Washington, D.C. President Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, April 1965. Library of Congress Chair occupied by Lincoln when assassinated. Library of Congress Theatre tickets to Ford's Theatre the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Artifacts in the museum collection, National Park Service, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lewis Payne, the conspirator who attacked Secretary Seward, standing in overcoat and hat. 1865 April. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Samuel Arnold, a conspirator. This photograph has background of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. George A. Atzerodt, a conspirator. This photograph has backgrounds of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Michael O'Laughlin, a conspirator, manacled. This photograph has background of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined. Alexander Gardner, photographer.

Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Edman Spangler, a "conspirator," manacled. This photograph has background of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Unidentified man, arrested on suspicion of being a conspirator (has been erroneously taken for Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who had a bald forehead; but is probably Hartman Richter, Atzerodt's cousin, arrested with him but later released) This photograph has background of dark metal, and was presumably taken on the monitors, U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus, where the conspirators were for a time confined. Library of Congress David E. Harrold [i.e. Herold]. Washington Navy Yard, D.C., 1865. David E. Herold, a conspirator, manacled. Library of Congress John A. (i.e., H.) Surratt.

Library of Congress House at 604 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., where the plot to assassinate Lincoln was hatched. Library of Congress Photograph shows Abraham Lincoln's casket conveyed by funeral car through the crowd on Broad Street in Philadelphia, April 22, 1865. Ridgway Glover, photographer. Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln mourning badge, with photo taken Feb. 9 1864. Political campaign button for 1864 presidential election showing bust portrait of Abraham Lincoln, facing right (Anthony Berger photo Feb. 9, 1864). Brass mat with oval window and photo attached to a blue velvet ribbon after Lincoln's death. Library of Congress Washington, D.C. President Lincoln's funeral procession on Pennsylvania Avenue. 1865 April 19. Library of Congress Photograph shows a group of citizens entering the grounds of the Illinois state house to view the body of Abraham Lincoln on May 3 or 4, 1865. Two soldiers stand near the specially built arch. The African American man with the cane near the head of the line is Reverend Henry Brown. Ridgway Glover, photographer.

Library of Congress Photograph shows Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession on Broadway heading towards Union Square. The building on the left is the home of Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt, grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt. April 24, 1865. Library of Congress Board which tried Lincoln conspirators. Portrait includes, standing left to right: Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Harris, Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, Maj. Gen. August V. Kautz, and Henry L. Burnett. Seated left to right: Lt. Col. David R. Clendenin, Col. C.H. Tompkins, Brig. Gen. Albion P. Howe, Brig. Gen. James Ekin, Maj. Gen. David Hunter, Brig. Gen. Robert S. Foster, John A. Binham, and Brig. Gen. Joseph Holt. Library of Congress Washington, D.C. Adjusting the ropes for hanging the conspirators. 1865 July 7. Alexander Gardner, A photographer. Library of Congress Hanging conspirators (The drop). photographed 1865. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress [Washington, D.C.

Hanging hooded bodies of the four conspirators; crowd departing. 1865 July 7. Alexander Gardner, photographer. Library of Congress Washington, District of Columbia. John C. Howard's stable on G Street between 6th and 7th (where John H. Surratt kept horses before leaving town on April 1, 1865. Library of Congress Boot worn by John Wilkes Booth. It was cut by Dr. Samuel Mudd who tended to Booth's wound he sustained when jumping over a railing to escape the theater. Artifact in the museum collection, National Park Service, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. Library of Congress Belongings found on the body of John Wilkes Booth on April 26, 1865. Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C. Library of Congress Pillow that Abraham Lincoln died on at the Petersen House, Washington, D.C. Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. Library of Congress Coat Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night be was shot by Booth at Ford's Theatre. Carol M. Highsmith, photographer.

Library of Congress ‹ Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 - The Henry Ford Search our website to find what you’re looking for. Search Select Your Language You can select the language displayed on our website. Click the drop-down menu below and make your selection.

THF159532 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159533 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159537 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159538 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159536 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159534 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF159535 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF15

9539 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF13467 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF13469 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF13470 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF13472 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF13474 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF51748 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 Photographed by Michelle Andonian THF77652 Rock

ing Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 Photographed by Michelle Andonian THF128254 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 THF128256 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 Rocking Chair Used by Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre the Night of His Assassination, April 14, 1865 Share Summary President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in this rocking chair during a production of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC when he was assassinated on April 14, 1865.

Henry Ford purchased the chair in 1929 for the Museum, where it remains one of the most revered objects associated with the "man who saved the Union." … President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in this rocking chair during a production of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC when he was assassinated on April 14, 1865. Henry Ford purchased the chair in 1929 for the Museum, where it remains one of the most revered objects associated with the "man who saved the Union." The Lincoln Assassination Chair History 29.1451.1 Originally purchased as part of a parlor suite, the rocking chair was intended for use in a reception room in Ford's Theatre, which opened in 1863. The parlor suite was purchased by Harry Clay Ford (no relation to Henry Ford) manager of the Theatre. However, the comfortable rocking chair began to be used by ushers during their "down" time and the fabric became soiled by their hair oil. This stain is still visible on the back.

Sometime in 1864, Harry Ford had the chair moved to his apartment across the alley from the Theatre in a belated attempt to keep it clean. Beginning with the Theatre's opening in 1863, President Lincoln became a frequent visitor. At some point, Mr. Ford began to supply the president and his party with comfortable seating furniture. Apparently, the president preferred this rocking chair, perhaps, due to his height. On the afternoon of April 14th, the chair was brought to the president's box along with a matching sofa and side chair. After the assassination, the Theatre and its contents was seized by the Federal government. After its seizure, the chair remained in the private office of the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. In 1867, the chair was transferred to the Department of the Interior and then sent to the Smithsonian Institution and placed in storage. For all practical purposes, the chair vanished from the public for half a century. Documentation at the Smithsonian indicates that it was catalogued into the collection in 1902. An unrelated Civil War event brought the red rocker back into the public eye.

In the last year of the War, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was captured and his personal belongings were seized by the government. In 1913, the Davis heirs challenged the validity of this action. Their contention was upheld by the United States Attorney General as there had been no legal proceedings to acquire title to Davis's possessions--they remained the property of the heirs. President Woodrow Wilson returned the items by executive order. In 1927 Mrs. Blanche Chapman Ford, widow of Harry Clay Ford, the man who supplied the rocking chair for the president's box learned of the Davis case. As his widow and heir, she applied for return of her chair in November of that year. The precedent of the Davis disposition was recalled and by order of the War Department (where it had originally been accessioned as a deposit) the chair was ordered returned to its rightful owner, Blanche Ford. In the spring of 1929 the Curator of History at the Smithsonian delivered the rocker to her son. Mrs. Ford sold the chair at auction through the Anderson Galleries in New York on December 17, 1929.

The purchaser was Israel Sack, the dean of antique American furniture dealers, and an agent of Henry Ford. Sack had observed that Ford delighted in furniture that had association with American historical figures. Sack, in turn, offered the chair to Mr. Ford, who purchased it and carefully documented its arrival in Greenfield Village in early 1930. There, the chair resided in the Logan County, Illinois Court House where Lincoln practiced law as a circuit rider in the 1840s. Mr. Ford had moved the Court House to Greenfield Village in 1929--the chair became the centerpiece of his Lincoln collection. In 1979, as part of the institution's fiftieth anniversary, the chair moved from the Court House to the Museum, where it remains today. By the early 1990s, conservators recognized that the fragile silk upholstery was degrading, even though the chair was always displayed in an exhibit case, requiring action. In preparation for conservation, eleven fabric samples were analyzed to determine the composition of both the fabric and the stains on the upholstery.

The results aided conservators and curators in determining which stains should be preserved and which could be removed to minimize damage to the upholstery. Microscopic analysis determined that calcium sulfate commonly known as plaster of Paris was present in many of the samples, including a large area on the base of the chair back and seat. This stain is consistent with documentation that suggests the chair was stored in a basement after the assassination and prior to its purchase by Mr. Ford. A preliminary test for blood using the reagent Benzidine yielded positive results in two areas--the front of the seat and near the upper portion of the back. More extensive testing would be required to provide additional information regarding its origin. Given the chair's well-documented history and a lack of available samples of the President's blood and DNA, The Henry Ford has decided not to pursue further testing. In 1996, following testing, museum conservators carefully cleaned the delicate silk fabric and removed some plaster stains using a tiny spatula. The upholstery was then covered with a thin polyester fabric attached with adhesive and tiny stitches in order to hold the fragile fragments of the fabric together. After treatment the newly conserved chair returned to exhibit in the Museum.

In 2006, the chair became a key artifact in a major exhibit on American freedom titled "With Liberty and Justice for All," where it may be seen today. For decades, visitors to The Henry Ford have sought out the so-called Lincoln Rocker. They are drawn to it not simply because of its role at the center of a tragedy, but as symbol of a beloved president. There is a unique sense of awe and reverence that the chair provides. As such, this rocking chair personifies the sacrifice made by Abraham Lincoln in fashioning a more perfect Union.

Question: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in which theatre in April 1865?
Answer: Ford's